General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Training Plans - Is there a "Gold Standard"? Rss Feed  
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2005-12-28 3:39 PM

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Subject: Training Plans - Is there a "Gold Standard"?
I am a converted marathoner who ran his first Sprint Tri this fall. I am gearing up for St. Anthony's in April and I am looking for the consensus "best" training plan out there. As a marathoner, I learned that there are 2 or 3 marathon training plans that consistently provide great results and seem to be the "gold standard" of marathon training plans (for example, I used Pfitzinger's Marathon Training Plan to PR by over 25 minutes).

So my question is: Is there an Olympic Distance Training Plan that is the consensus "best" plan out there. If not, what are the more common or popular plans used?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


2005-12-28 4:08 PM
in reply to: #312647

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Subject: RE: Training Plans - Is there a "Gold Standard"?

First of all I am in the Atlanta area also and I would like to invite you to our initial meeting for the North Atlanta Tri Club on January 12th. PM me for details.

Now to answer your question...as I am sure you know from being a marathoner that there are as many training plans out there as there are athletes. I am sure that you also know that there are plans that suit specific athletes that may or may not be good for you. My recommendation for you (and I am a coach) is to find a plan that works onĀ  your weakest leg of the race 10%-20% more than the other legs. I am assuming that you have a strong run, so you probably only need to run twice or three times per week at most to maintain your running fitness. On the other hand runners who come to triathlon (and I was one) have a notoriously weak bike leg. This is caused by the fact that the muscles used for cycling and running are different, and the ones that are common to the two are used differently. Then you throw in the swim where runners tend to have a weak kick. So as you can see there is not a "generic one size fits all" plan that is going to be perfect for you. There are however good plans out there that will more than prepare you to finish the race (and again I am assuming this is your goal) pretty much any plan that has you doing each sport 3 times a week. Hope that this helps and good luck!

2005-12-28 4:14 PM
in reply to: #312647

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Subject: RE: Training Plans - Is there a "Gold Standard"?

Chris:

There are a good amount of BT'ers doing the St. A triathlon.  Some with Team-in-Training (like myself), some on their own.  Congrats on getting your entry in before the record sell-out.

You might want to sign in here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=31285&posts=37 insomuch as there might be BT festivities before and after the race.

There are some great plans available on the main page and even more avialable to "Performance Members" (e.g. you contribute a nominal fee to help pay the website bills and you get access to additional plans). 

I utilized the 20 week 1/2 IM as a baseline that I then tweaked to fit my schedule (I often travel Tues-Thurs, so I shuffled the swimming and biking to the beginning and end of the week as much as possible). These plans appear to focus most on time + volume as opposed to interval training, so I am in the process of finalizing phase 2 (build) portion of my plan.

There are some great articles on this site to help you delve more into the meat behind building a training plan.  There are also a couple of good books out there.  At present I am reading Triathlete Magazine's "The Complete Guide to Triathlon Training" and have found it to be well written and straight forward.

PS: Also check out the "Georgia" thread (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=39) as Rocketman (Brett) is talking about starting an Atlanta tri-club ... good group training opportunities.

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